DES vs VIG: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap Dividend Fund

DESBNYSE Arca

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF

VIGANYSE Arca

Overlap

0.7%by weight

Expense ratio

VIG −0.34pt a year

DES0.38%VIG0.04%

Avg volume · 30D

VIG 10.1×the volume

DES104KVIG1.05M

10Y return · a year

VIG +6.0pt

DES+7.7%VIG+13.7%

DES vs VIG Performance

Nov 9, 2021 – Nov 9, 2026

+34.0%DES+63.3%VIG

Expense ratio: DES 0.38%; VIG 0.04%, better
Fund size: DES $2.07B; VIG $109B
1Y total return: DES +22.8%, better; VIG +17.5%
Yield (12M): DES 2.29%, better; VIG 1.46%
Holdings: DES 508; VIG 343
Avg volume (30D): DES 104K sh; VIG 1.05M sh, better
NAV per share: DES $38.55; VIG $243.29
52W range

ETF.net Grade

Pillar letters and Scores for DES, VIG, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	DES	VIG
Cost30% weight	C45	A100Higher
Mission25% weight	A83	A86Higher
Risk15% weight	F21	B59Higher
Tradability15% weight	C44	B59Higher
Holdings10% weight	A86Higher	C51
Durability5% weight	A72	A90Higher

Rank among US Dividend Index funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. DES and VIG are both graded against the same 52 US Dividend Index funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

US Dividend Index⁠

Category · 52 funds

See all 52 ›

VIG ranks 5th and DES 28th of 52 funds in the US Dividend Index Category.

Rank 4ADIVBiShares Core Dividend ETFScore 79
Rank 5AVIGVanguard Dividend Appreciation ETFScore 78
Rank 6ADLNWisdomTree U.S. LargeCap Dividend FundScore 73
Rank 27BCSBVictoryShares US Small Cap High Div Volatility Wtd ETFScore 57
Rank 28BDESWisdomTree U.S. SmallCap Dividend FundScore 56
Rank 28BFVDFirst Trust Value Line Dividend Index FundScore 56

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

DESBWisdomTree U.S. SmallCap Dividend Fund

VIGAVanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF

In short

DES Most dividend ETFs crowd into the same mega-cap payers. DES points the dividend screen at the other end of the market: small U.S. companies that actually write checks, on a WisdomTree index running since 2006.

VIG VIG buys dividend growth, not fat yields: about 300 US companies with a record of raising their payouts, tracked for 0.04% a year. Running since 2006 and now north of $100 billion, it is the plain-vanilla anchor of the dividend-screen aisle.

Stated mandate

DES The fund seeks to track dividend-paying small-cap companies in the U.S. equity market.

VIG The fund seeks to track the S&P U.S. Dividend Growers Index, which represents common stocks of companies with a record of increasing dividends over time.

Why people hold it

DES Rare mandate: a dividend screen aimed at U.S. small caps rather than the mega-cap payer roster nearly every rival dividend fund owns.
Launched in 2006, one of the older dividend ETFs still running, and now a multi-billion-dollar fund with a long unbroken record through several market cycles.
Pays monthly, not the quarterly cadence most dividend funds stick to.
Spread across about 600 names, so one small-cap blowup does not steer the whole portfolio. Diversification is among the stronger features here.

VIG At 0.04% a year, the fee is roughly a tenth of the typical dividend-screen fund's 0.39%, and undercuts every other top-graded fund in the group, DGRO and SCHD included.
The screen rewards a record of increasing dividends rather than the biggest current payout, so the basket leans on payout discipline instead of stretched yields.
Live since 2006, over $100 billion in assets and actively traded, which shows up as easy fills rather than wide spreads.
About 300 holdings, cash paid quarterly, and one of the strongest overall implementations in its dividend-screen peer group.

Worth knowing

DES 0.38% a year sits right around the middle of the dividend-screen crowd, and large-cap options like SCHD (0.06%) and VIG (0.04%) charge a fraction of it.
Small-cap payers move harder than blue chips, so this is the bumpier corner of the dividend aisle.
Volume is moderate rather than heavy, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than in the biggest dividend ETFs.

VIG Growth of payouts, not maximum income, is the mandate. That puts it on a different axis than high-dividend funds such as SPYD.
US stocks only, no bonds and no overseas payers, and sector weights are whatever the index screen spits out.
Portfolio risk and concentration measures land mid-pack for the category: it is fully invested in equities and drops when the market drops.

Full DES profile⁠

Full VIG profile⁠

DES vs VIG Holdings

How DES and VIG differ

Overlap by weight

0.7%

Shared holdings make up 15.1% of DES and 0.7% of VIG.

Level by level

Holdings70 in both0.7%
Sector11 Sectors56.1%
Asset classStocks100%
Countryby domicile100%

Sector

Sector weights in DES and VIG, widest gap first
Sector	Gap	DES	VIG
Technology	VIG +21.7 points	5.7%	27.4%
Health Care	VIG +16.3 points	2.4%	18.7%
Consumer Discretionary	DES +12.5 points	16.4%	3.9%
Real Estate	DES +9.3 points	9.3%	0.0%
Financials	DES +6.1 points	26.8%	20.7%
Energy	DES +6.0 points	9.6%	3.6%
Consumer Staples	VIG +5.9 points	3.2%	9.1%
Materials	DES +2.7 points	5.9%	3.2%
Communication	DES +2.7 points	2.7%	0.0%
Industrials	DES +2.5 points	13.3%	10.8%
Utilities	DES +2.0 points	4.7%	2.7%

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Country weights in DES and VIG, widest gap first
Country	More in DESMore in VIG	Gap	DES	VIG
United States		Same weight	100.0%	100.0%

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

DES9.5%
VIG34.5%

Securities held

DES506
VIG341

Asset class

DES: Stocks
VIG: Stocks

Holdings

Only in DES436
In both70
Only in VIG271

Only in DES

436 securities, 84.7% of DES by weight

TFS Financial Corp1.20%
Entertainment Properties Trust1.15%
NorthWestern Energy Group Inc1.12%
PBF Energy Inc1.02%
Sonoco Products Co0.96%
Travel + Leisure Co0.90%
Outfront Media Inc0.87%
Patterson-UTI Energy Inc0.78%
Hannon Armstrong Sustainable0.77%
Americold Realty Trust0.77%
Iridium Communications Inc0.76%
Victory Capital Holding - A0.76%
Bath & Body Works Inc0.72%
Kodiak Gas Services Inc0.71%
Inter Parfums Inc0.71%
First Interstate BancSystem Inc0.71%
First Bancorp/Puerto Rico0.69%
Scotts Miracle-Gro Co/The0.68%
Provident Financial Services Inc0.68%
Archrock Inc0.65%
Avista Corp0.64%
Federated Hermes Inc0.62%
California Resources Corp0.60%
Cheesecake Factory Inc/The0.58%
Associated Banc-Corp0.58%
HomeStreet Inc0.57%
Crescent Energy Inc-A0.57%
Polaris Inc0.56%
Drew Industries Inc0.55%
Northern Oil And Gas Inc0.55%
Buckle Inc/The0.55%
Northwest Natural Gas Co0.54%
Clear Secure Inc -Class A0.54%
Science Applications International Corp0.52%
WesBanco Inc0.51%
Fulton Financial Corp0.51%
Harley-Davidson Inc0.50%
Sunococorp Llc0.50%
Helmerich & Payne Inc0.49%
Delek US Holdings Inc0.48%
National Health Investors Inc0.48%
Korn Ferry0.48%
Kontoor Brands Inc0.47%
Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp0.46%
Eastern Bankshares Inc0.45%
Pitney Bowes Inc0.45%
CVB Financial Corp0.45%
Cohen & Steers Inc0.44%
Trinity Industries Inc0.44%
MDU Resources Group Inc0.43%

Only in VIG

271 securities, 99.1% of VIG by weight

Microsoft Corp4.90%
Apple Inc4.89%
Broadcom Inc4.30%
Eli Lilly & Co4.10%
JPMorgan Chase & Co3.89%
ExxonMobil Holdings Corp2.96%
Johnson & Johnson2.83%
Visa Inc2.53%
Walmart Inc2.05%
AbbVie Inc2.05%
Mastercard Inc1.97%
Cisco Systems Inc1.88%
Lam Research Corp1.82%
Costco Wholesale Corp1.79%
Caterpillar Inc1.65%
Merck & Co Inc1.59%
Bank of America Corp1.57%
Procter & Gamble Co/The1.50%
Coca-Cola Co/The1.48%
UnitedHealth Group Inc1.46%
Home Depot Inc/The1.26%
Texas Instruments Inc1.13%
KLA Corp1.13%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc/The1.09%
Oracle Corp1.05%
Amgen Inc1.01%
Morgan Stanley0.99%
Linde PLC0.97%
Amphenol Corp0.92%
International Business Machines Corp0.92%
QUALCOMM Inc0.87%
Analog Devices Inc0.86%
Gilead Sciences Inc0.82%
PepsiCo Inc0.77%
Abbott Laboratories0.76%
Eaton Corp PLC0.74%
McDonald's Corp0.72%
Union Pacific Corp0.72%
NextEra Energy Inc0.70%
Blackrock Inc0.68%
Danaher Corp0.61%
S&P Global Inc0.53%
Chubb Ltd0.51%
Accenture PLC0.50%
Medtronic PLC0.49%
Starbucks Corp0.47%
Lockheed Martin Corp0.46%
Lowe's Cos Inc0.46%
Automatic Data Processing Inc0.45%
Phillips 660.45%

Weight gaps

All 70 Holdings in both funds, largest gap first.

Holding weights in DES and VIG, widest gap first
Holding	Gap	DES	VIG
Avnet IncAVT	DES +0.71 points	0.75%	0.04%
Avient CorpAVNT	DES +0.59 points	0.61%	0.02%
Brunswick Corp/DEBC	DES +0.49 points	0.51%	0.02%
Cabot CorpCBT	DES +0.43 points	0.45%	0.02%
Matson IncMATX	DES +0.41 points	0.44%	0.03%
American States Water CoAWR	DES +0.41 points	0.42%	0.01%
National Healthcare CorpNHC	DES +0.40 points	0.41%	0.01%
Independent Bank Corp/RocklandINDB	DES +0.38 points	0.40%	0.02%
Silgan Holdings IncSLGN	DES +0.38 points	0.39%	0.01%
Griffon CorpGFF	DES +0.37 points	0.39%	0.02%
California Water Service GroupCWT	DES +0.36 points	0.37%	0.01%
Otter Tail CorpOTTR	DES +0.34 points	0.36%	0.02%
Community Bank System IncCBU	DES +0.32 points	0.33%	0.01%
HNI CorpHNI	DES +0.32 points	0.33%	0.01%
Exponent IncEXPO	DES +0.31 points	0.32%	0.01%
Chesapeake Utilities CorpCPK	DES +0.31 points	0.32%	0.01%
MGE Energy IncMGEE	DES +0.31 points	0.32%	0.01%
First Financial Bankshares IncFFIN	DES +0.29 points	0.31%	0.02%
McGrath RentcorpMGRC	DES +0.28 points	0.29%	0.01%
WD-40 CoWDFC	DES +0.28 points	0.29%	0.01%
NBT Bancorp IncNBTB	DES +0.26 points	0.27%	0.01%
Gorman-Rupp Co/TheGRC	DES +0.25 points	0.26%	<0.01%
First Merchants CorpFRME	DES +0.26 points	0.27%	0.01%
Power Integrations IncPOWI	DES +0.26 points	0.27%	0.01%
TowneBank/Portsmouth VATOWN	DES +0.25 points	0.26%	0.01%
International Bancshares CorpIBOC	DES +0.23 points	0.25%	0.02%
CNO Financial Group IncCNO	DES +0.23 points	0.25%	0.02%
Worthington Enterprises IncWOR	DES +0.22 points	0.23%	<0.01%
Franklin Electric Co IncFELE	DES +0.22 points	0.24%	0.02%
Quaker Chemical CorpKWR	DES +0.21 points	0.22%	<0.01%
ServisFirst Bancshares IncSFBS	DES +0.21 points	0.23%	0.02%
Brady CorpBRC	DES +0.20 points	0.22%	0.02%
Mueller Water Products IncMWA	DES +0.21 points	0.22%	0.01%
HB Fuller CoFUL	DES +0.20 points	0.21%	0.01%
Bancfirst CorpBANF	DES +0.18 points	0.19%	<0.01%
Middlesex Water CoMSEX	DES +0.18 points	0.18%	<0.01%
Andersons Inc/TheANDE	DES +0.17 points	0.18%	<0.01%
Horace Mann Educators CorpHMN	DES +0.17 points	0.18%	<0.01%
City Holding CoCHCO	DES +0.15 points	0.16%	<0.01%
Tennant CoTNC	DES +0.14 points	0.15%	<0.01%
Oil-Dri Corp of AmericaODC	DES +0.15 points	0.15%	<0.01%
Hawkins IncHWKN	DES +0.14 points	0.15%	0.01%
Tootsie Roll Industries IncTR	DES +0.14 points	0.14%	<0.01%
Westamerica BancorporationWABC	DES +0.13 points	0.14%	<0.01%
Kadant IncKAI	DES +0.13 points	0.14%	0.01%
LeMaitre Vascular IncLMAT	DES +0.12 points	0.13%	<0.01%
Lakeland Financial CorpLKFN	DES +0.12 points	0.13%	<0.01%
1st Source CorpSRCE	DES +0.12 points	0.13%	<0.01%
Lindsay CorpLNN	DES +0.11 points	0.12%	<0.01%
German American Bancorp IncGABC	DES +0.12 points	0.13%	<0.01%
Enterprise Financial ServicesEFSC	DES +0.12 points	0.13%	<0.01%
Standex International CorpSXI	DES +0.12 points	0.13%	0.01%
Trico BancsharesTCBK	DES +0.11 points	0.12%	<0.01%
York Water CoYORW	DES +0.11 points	0.11%	<0.01%
SY Bancorp IncSYBT	DES +0.10 points	0.11%	<0.01%
National Bank Holdings CorpNBHC	DES +0.09 points	0.10%	<0.01%
Republic Bancorp Inc/KYRBCAA	DES +0.09 points	0.09%	<0.01%
First Mid Bancshares IncFMBH	DES +0.06 points	0.07%	<0.01%
Mercantile Bank CorpMBWM	DES +0.06 points	0.06%	<0.01%
Bank First CorpBFC	DES +0.05 points	0.06%	<0.01%
Capital City Bank Group IncCCBG	DES +0.06 points	0.06%	<0.01%
Cass Information Systems IncCASS	DES +0.04 points	0.04%	<0.01%
Independent Bank Corp/MIIBCP	DES +0.04 points	0.04%	<0.01%
Southern Missouri BancorpSMBC	DES +0.04 points	0.04%	<0.01%
First Business Financial ServicesFBIZ	DES +0.03 points	0.03%	<0.01%
Civista Bancshares IncCIVB	DES +0.03 points	0.03%	<0.01%
Northrim BanCorp IncNRIM	DES +0.03 points	0.03%	<0.01%
Unity Bancorp IncUNTY	DES +0.03 points	0.03%	<0.01%
Home Bancorp IncHBCP	DES +0.02 points	0.02%	<0.01%
Investar Holding CorpISTR	DES +0.01 points	0.01%	<0.01%

All 586 DES holdings⁠All 333 VIG holdings⁠

How we measure overlap

Each holding counts at its smaller weight in the two funds, summed over the full Holdings. Sector, country and asset class use the same rule on each fund’s split. Cash, FX and derivative lines stay out of the counts. Two bond funds get no overlap figure.

DES vs VIG Cost

Overpaying DES vs VIG

$6,857

On $10,000 over 30 years. 7% growth a year before fees, expense ratio only.

DES 0.38%
$7,706
VIG 0.04%
$849

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

DES 0.38%
VIG 0.04%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	DES	VIG	Overpaying
10	$688	$73	$615
20	$2,658	$288	$2,370
30	$7,706	$849	$6,857

Expense ratio

0.38%DES
0.04%VIG, cheaper

VIG0.04%DES0.38%

0.04%0.70%

Middle half of US Dividend Index funds
Median 0.35%

VIG cheapest of 52 funds

DES 28th cheapest of 52 funds

DES vs VIG Dividends

Last 12 months to Nov 9, 2026

Yield (12M): DES 2.29%, better; VIG 1.46%
Payout (12M): DES $0.90; VIG $3.65
Last payment: DES $0.05; VIG $0.93
Ex-dividend: DES Oct 27, 2026; VIG Sep 28, 2026
Paid on: DES Oct 29, 2026; VIG Sep 30, 2026
Frequency: DES Monthly; VIG Quarterly

Distribution history

Per share, 2023 to 2026, same scale for both

DESMonthly · 46 paymentsAll DES payments⁠

VIGQuarterly · 15 paymentsAll VIG payments⁠

DES vs VIG Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: DES 17.4%VIG 10.6%, better
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: DES 0.70VIG 1.33, better
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: DES −25.3%VIG −20.4%, better
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: DES 0.91VIG 0.80; Market = 1

DES and VIG in the news

All news⁠

Best ETFs
For a rising dividend, iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF ranks first
Updated Nov 2, 2026VIG
New ETFs
Eventide lists two ETFs at 0.75% and 0.95% for strategies it already runs
Oct 30, 2026VIG
Best ETFs
Schwab's dividend ETF returned 22.8% in a year. Its income rate still trails a one-month bill.
Updated Oct 2, 2026VIG
First-Year Review
EASY's first year trailed the defensive index it names
Sep 30, 2026VIG
New ETFs
Raub Brock lists HQDG, an active dividend-growth ETF priced at 0.50%
Sep 8, 2026VIG

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DES vs VIG

In short

Stated mandate

Why people hold it